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The essay my student plagiarized nearly word for word (and seriously, when you’re a C student, at least disguise your plagiarism!) came from a sample essay in a book about how to win college scholarships. And the subject was No Child Left Behind.
I mean, my brain’s circuits fried with all the irony (oh fine, it may be pop irony instead of literary irony, but still it’s stronger than coincidence) in those two facts. No, child, you will not be winning scholarships to college with plagiarized writing. You will be left behind.
Damn shame, too. Good kid.
THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR PEOPLE WHO CALL ME “CHELS.”
Last night, I had the most wonderful dream: I was in a compost container store, and there were hundreds of compost bin and tumbler models to choose from: some artsy, some simple and practical, some inexplicably made to decompose themselves. A man was giving a demonstration, and I was debating between the self-composting composter bin and one that doubled as a sauna during the winter.
Then I woke up, and soon I’m going to go to Home Depot to get the ONE compost tumbler available in the entire valley. Harumph.
Internets, we’re having a baby.
Two days until Epic Solo Road Trip 2010 commences. Am currently burning audiobooks into iTunes for the ride and scouting Google Maps for the most interesting routes to and from. Until then, one more class, one epic day’s worth of grading, and I’m outta here.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually made a New Year’s resolution. Certainly I’ve never kept one. But this year, there are some things I’d definitely like to do and see. So my resolution is to go exploring. Hopefully that will include lots of fishing.
Today a high school friend of mine died of breast cancer. She was 30, I think. Close to my age. She leaves a husband and three boys, and friends and family who watched her chronicle the end of her life on Facebook.
I wasn’t very close to her — we lost touch after high school – so I hesitate to say something that will upset anyone. Yet I’ve been sitting here for an hour since I found out, trying to remember how I’ve rationalized others’ deaths in order to understand this one. But that’s what’s bothering me: rationalizing is like putting round pegs in square holes and thinking that as long as the pegs don’t fall out, they must fit; in short, it often makes sense just to the person twisting logic to fit the situation.
Maybe it’s just me, but every time a friend or relative dies, the choice between faith and reason becomes all the more clear. And I just don’t think I can choose faith anymore. I quit believing in miracles a long time ago, and now I don’t really see the point of loving a god who does nothing.
Today I’m thinking of this German I couple I met two summers ago on the Snake River. We were all part of a rather ill-fated jetboat trip up Hells Canyon, and the couple — I think their names were Hans-Christian and Cristina, but I can’t remember her name for sure — were from the former East Germany. She told me, in her thick accent, that ever since the wall came down, they’ve travelled abroad every summer to make up for the half of their life when they couldn’t.
Three women at the Patisserie
Blonde No. 1: You really need to touch up your roots.
Blonde No. 2: Well, I’m thinking of going back to my original color.
Blonde No 3: Ugh. Who would want brown hair? I mean, especially in the winter?
Me: glare.
Technically, I’ve not been totally neglectful of the blog: I did have two posts up here that didn’t quite make the transition to the new server (hey, did you notice? four days and no crashes! huzzah!), but I’m way too lazy to go find them and repost them. They weren’t that good, anyway.
Let me briefly recap what happened between my last post and now: My sister-in-law had her baby (as did my sister-in-law’s sister-in-law), and then BAM! Every woman in the world announced she was pregnant. Except me. And Lucy.
Speaking of babies, the big news is that (1) I have a new niece! And sorry, world, but my nieces are pretty much the cutest nieces of all the nieces. Although those Grable progeny are looking alright. Also, (2) I have full-time work lined up next quarter, and (3) I’m keeping busy with freelance jobs this quarter. So I’m making at least enough dollars to buy dog food, which fuels our local poop factory.
And now, having been working on freelance jobs, lesson planning, teaching, and more freelancing all day, I’m going to bedfordshire.
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